The United States, Canada and Sweden opened the IIHF World Junior Championships yesterday with large victories in their respective matches. The U.S. clobbered Denmark 11-3, The Canadians rolled over Finland 8-1 and Sweden downed Latvia 9-4.

From an Islander stand point it was a successful opening night for their prospects. Ryan Strome tallied a goal in the third period of the 8-1 win. He also added assists on Canada’s first goal and fourth goal. Johan Sundstrom, the Islanders second round draft pick in 2011, had an assist in Sweden’s victory and finished the game a plus-2.

The United States does not have any Islanders prospects on its’ roster, but as an American We’re pulling for the boys in red, white and blue.

The Islanders fell to the New York Rangers, 3-0, at Madison Square Garden Monday night. The Rangers and Islanders were scoreless through one period of play before the Rangers went on the offensive. At 5:14 of the second period Carl Hagelin opened the scoring for the Rangers. The game would remain a one-goal game until 6:32 of the third when Carl Hagelin notched his second goal of the game. Marian Gaborik scored an empty net goal at 17:32 to secure the win.

The Islanders next game is against the Calgary Flames at the Nassau Coliseum.

The Islanders will face the New York Rangers for the second time in four days. The Islanders, who’ve dropped their last two games, will look to turn their misfortunes around and stay in the hunt for the playoffs.

The Rangers won last Thursday’s contest against the Islanders, 4-2, at Madison Square Garden. Brandon Dubinsky scored the games opening goal to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 14:53 of the first period. PA Parenteau tied the game 18 seconds into the second period on the power play. The Rangers were able to regain the lead when Marian Gaborik and Michael Del Zotto each scored to make it 3-1 Rangers. Matt Moulson capitalized on the power play at 8:29 of the third period to cut the lead to one goal. The Rangers secured the win when John Mitchell scored an empty net goal with less than two minutes left in the game.

The Rangers are in the midst of a four game winning enter tonight’s match with wins over the Coyotes, Devils, Islanders and Flyers.

The Rangers will likely send Henrik Lundqvist to guard the net tonight. Lundqvist is 22-11-5 in 39 games against the Islanders and has a 2.22 goals against average. He also has three shutouts against the Islanders.

The Islanders enter tonight’s game off a 5-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Evgeni Nabokov will likely start in net tonight against the Rangers. In 11 game Nabokov is 2-7-0 this season. He has 2.85 goals against average and .907 save percentage. Nabokov is five wins away from reaching his 300th career win.

The Rangers lead the season series 2-1. Following tonight’s game these two teams will face each other two more times; at the Nassau Coliseum on February 24 and again on March 11.

Pre-Game Reading:

-Want to know what’s up with the New York Rangers? Make sure to check the New York Rangers Blog for all the latest info (The New York Rangers Blog)

-The Rangers blue line could be getting several players back in the coming week. (NY Post)

Last night loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs was the latest blow to the Islanders hopes of gaining ground in the Eastern Conference standings. The Islanders sit 14th in conference and 11 points out a playoff spot with 49 games left to play. Though they’re not out of it by any means that could change quickly if they don’t turn things around when the NHL starts back up following the winter recess.

The 5-3 loss was a microcosm of the Islanders struggles all season; bad defensive play and an inability to find the back of the net. Throw in poor call by the officials and you may have found a theme for Islander games this season.

It’s safe to say that everyone watching the game was flabbergasted by the diving penalty assessed to John Tavares in a crucial juncture in the game. The penalty took the Islanders best player off the ice and killed the momentum the Islanders had at that point.

While poor officiating has played a factor in the past, it is in no way an excuse for why the Islanders have struggled.

33 games into the season the Islanders have been one of the worst teams when it comes to goal scoring. They’ve scored 75 goals as a team up to this point and are only averaging 2.27 goals for per game. The only team worse than them in that department is the Los Angeles Kings. To exacerbate the problem, Islander goal scoring has been limited to a select few players with others contributing on an inconsistent basis.

The Islanders top line of John Tavares, PA Parenteau and Matt Moulson have accounted for a majority of the teams goals this season. Moulson leads the team with 16 goals with Tavares second on the team with 11. The only other player to hit double digits for the Islanders is Michael Grabner with 10 goals so far.

The Islanders were not too pleased with the officials following Friday night’s 5-3 loss to the Maple Leafs. Several missed calls and a phantom diving call on John Tavares after he had been crosschecked in the face really grinded the gears of the Islanders. Non-more so than Isles assistant coach Doug Weight.

After the officials announced the diving call on Tavares at 16:59 Doug Weight went off on the officials. Angrily screaming at the officials for several seconds before head coach Jack Capuano went over and restrained Weight.

His outburst on the bench would not be his last. After the final buzzer had sounded and the Maple Leafs had secured the win Weight gave one final send off to the officials.

As the players and coaches made their way off the ice Weight took a water bottle off the bench and started spraying water onto the ice. It is unclear as to who the Islanders assistant coach was directing the water at. But it is a safe assumption that it was directed somewhere towards the officiating crew. If that proves to be the case, Weight could be hearing from the league office regarding the matter.

Say what you will about the officials tonight, one thing is quite clear. Doug Weight will not be sending David Banfield or Don VanMassenhoven present this holiday season.

The Islanders lost a tough game against the New York Rangers last night at Madison Square Garden. PA Parenteau and Matt Moulson scored the Islanders only two goals of the night in the 4-2 lost. Tonight the Islanders will get their chance to move past the loss when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Coliseum.

The Leafs are entering tonight’s game fresh off a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres last night. James Reimer stopped 40 shots in the win. David Steckel, Phil Kessel and Nazem Kadri all scored goals in the Leafs win. Prior to the win, the Leafs were on a three game losing streak.

The leafs enter the holiday matchup against Islanders without the services of Colby Armstrong and Philippe Dupuis, who were both placed on injured reserve this past week. Armstrong is out with a concussion and Dupuis is out with an upper body injury.

No word on who will start in net for the Maple Leafs.

The Islanders will start Evgeni Nabokov tonight. He is 2-8-0 through 10 games and posted a 2.69 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. The Islanders will also feature the same lineup they had during last night’s game against the Rangers.

Last seas latest celebrity news
on the Islanders and Maple Leafs split the season. The Islanders won the first and last game; a 2-1 win on October 18, 2010 and a 4-3 win on March 8, 2011. The Maple Leafs won the two middle games; a 5-3 win on February 8, 2011 and a 2-1 win on February 22,2011.

Tonight will be the first time the Islanders and Maple Leafs will meet this season.

Pre-Game Reading:

- The Maple Leafs are hoping to turn around their odd record on the day of Friday. (Globe & Mail)

- The Islanders will face their former head coach, Scott Gordon, for the first time since he was dismissed on November 15, 2010. (Newsday)

- Don’t hold you breath for the Winter Classic to come to New York until at least 2014. (Newsday)

- The Leafs may have a little “Beiber Fever.” He skated with the team during Thursday’s morning skate along with a young man who was part of Make-A-Wish Canada. (Globe & Mail)

- If you haven’t read, here is a very lazy, lets poop on the Islanders, piece put together by the Toronto Star. Enjoy. (Toronto Star)

The Islanders fell to the Dallas Stars 3-2 last night after the Stars came from behind off two unanswered goals in the third period. James Benn’s wrist shot 4:33 into the third period would prove to be the game-winning goal.

The Islanders were outplayed for a majority of the loss and were outshot 29-27.

In his first NHL start of the season Kevin Poulin stopped 26 of 29 shots through 58:41 of ice time. He posted a .926 save percentage in the loss. Calvin de Haan, making his NHL debut, saw 13:01 of total ice time and finished the game with a plus-1 rating.

Loui Eriksson scored midway through the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Michael Grabner would tie the game at one at the 16:38 mark. Grabner was on the finishing end of a pass from Kyle Okposo.

The score would remain like that until Kyle Okposo gave the Islanders their first lead of the game with less than two minutes left in the second period. Okposo entered the Stars zone and shot the puck from the left hand face-off circle. His shot found its way through Stars goaltender Richard Bachman and Okposo followed through on the play and pushed the puck over the goal line.

The lead would be short lived. 1:07 into the third period Brendan Morrow tied the game on a power play goal scored 10 seconds into the man advantage. Three minutes later Benn scored the game winner.

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